Behavior: Killing Laughter

"There seems to be no lengths to which humorless people will not go to
analyze humor," said Robert Benchley. If the 180 behavioral scientists
who last week attended the world's first International Symposium on
Humor at the University of Wales had listened closely, they might have
heard a sigh from Benchley's grave. TIME London Correspondent
Christopher Byron attended the three-day meeting and sent this report:

Sociologist Gary Fine of the University of Minnesota set the tone with
his lecture "Humor in situ: the Role of Humor in Small-Group Cultures."
As he finished, an American...